1 Timothy Bible Study

1 Timothy falls into what is called the category of the pastoral epistles, which is designate for first and second Timothy and Titus only. All three letters are written by Paul, and there are two things that distinguish them apart from other letters. First, these pastoral epistle letters are among the last things Paul wrote, reflecting the sort of concerns which burdened the apostle near the end of his ministry/life. Second, these pastoral epistles were apparently addressed not to a congregation but to two young men who were functioning in pastoral roles, hence the reason they are called the pastoral epistles. This does not mean, of course, that the letters were not read before congregations. The epistles show clear signs that their author intended them to be used widely, for all people, just as 2 Timothy 3:16-17

2 Timothy 3:16–17 CSB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

And just because these letters are called Pastoral Epistles does not mean they are mere handbooks on pastoral duties. There is much of general interest in the letters, they deal with matters of church order Paul had not had a chance to address in detail yet.

There are a lot of different ways that we can break down, or outline the letter of 1 Timothy, but for this study, we will break it down or outline it as follows:

Stay on the Job (ch 1)

Service - or Circus? (ch 2)

Follow the Leaders (ch 3)

How to be a Man of God (ch 4)

Order in the Church! (ch 5)

Orders from Headquarters (ch 6)

We will break down each chapter further as we go through them.

Chapter 1 - Stay on the Job:

Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”

That advertisement appeared in a London newspaper and thousands of men responded! It was signed by the noted Arctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and that was what made the difference.

If Jesus Christ had advertised for workers, the announcements might have read something like this:

“Men and women wanted for difficult task of helping to build My church. You will often be misunderstood, even by those working with you. You will face constant attack from an invisible enemy. You may not see the results of your labor, and your full reward will not come till after all your work is completed. It may cost you your home, your ambitions, eve your life.”

In spite of the demands that He makes, Jesus Christ receives the applications of many who gladly give of their all for Him. He is certainly the greatest Master for whom anyone could work, and task of building His church is certainly the greatest challenge to which a believer could give their life.

Timothy was a young man who responded to Christ’s call to help build His church. He was one of the Apostle Paul’s assistants.

Paul wrote the letter we call 1 Timothy to encourage Timothy, to explain how a local church should be managed, and to enforce his own authority as a servant of God. In 1 Timothy 1 Paul explained the three responsibilities of a pastor and people in a local church.

First section we see is:

Teach Sound Doctrine: Verses 1-11

1 Timothy 1:1–11 CSB

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope: 2 To Timothy, my true son in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine 4 or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith. 5 Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. 6 Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on. 8 But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately. 9 We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral and males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.

In this first section of verses 1-11, we first see what is typical of letters of Biblical times, it is what they called a:

Salutation. Vs. 1-2

1 Timothy 1:1 CSB

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope:

Here in verse 1 we are given the author of this letter which is Paul, first known as Saul. Saul was his Jewish name, and Paul was his Greco-Roman name, the one he went by when he ministered to the Gentiles or Christian name.

The term apostle describes in this context God’s chosen ambassador who is commanded to testify concerning the resurrection and to herald abroad the gospel.

Paul viewed himself as under orders. He also saw his appointment to the apostleship as God’s will.

1 Timothy 1:2 CSB

2 To Timothy, my true son in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Timothy made a good impression on Paul and accompanied him on the second and third missionary journeys. Timothy’s father was a Greek, his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois, reared him in the Christian faithfulness.

The term true, here is used to describe the genuineness and sincerity of Timothy’s Christianity. He was a son to Paul in the ministry. Paul took him on as an apprentice and disciple.

The term grace here is used as greetings. It describes the gracious goodness which God offers to undeserving sinners. Grace removes the guilt of previous sin and relieves the offender of punishment that is truly deserved.

Mercy is God’s help offered to the discouraged and stumbling. Paul’s use of the word may have reminded Timothy of the sustaining mercy he needed in the face of intense opposition and difficulty.

Peace is a Greek expression describing a state of salvation which results from the grace and mercy of God. It refers to a condition of wholeness and harmony existing between a person and God.

Warning against False Teachings Vs. 3-4

1 Timothy 1:3 CSB

3 As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine

Paul had traveled into Macedonia, but he urged Timothy to remain in Ephesus. The term urge may indicate that Timothy was reluctant to stay in Ephesus.

Paul was reaffirming his appointment of Timothy to serve as his personal representative before the church.

The charge against teaching false doctrines prohibits spreading speculative ideas that contradicted Paul’s explanation of the truth.

Timothy’s task in remaining was to stop certain men in the congregation who were teaching false doctrine - that is, different from Paul’s doctrine.

1 Timothy 1:4 CSB

4 or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.

Paul warned against myths and endless genealogies. Interpreters see these stories as either fictitious Jewish distortions of the Old Testament or Gnostic myths about creation.

Paul opposed the myths because of what they produced and what they caused Christians to ignore. The false teaching promoted questions or controversies.

The False teachers paid close attention to what did not need to be a focus. This led to fruitless discussion and strife. The result of the irrelevant teaching contrasted the true edification that sprang from godly instruction.

The main problem was that the false teaching failed to further God’s work. The work of God that Paul was discussing here was the arrangement God had made for people’s redemption.

This work is furthered by an attitude of faith or commitment. Paul feared that the Ephesians might spend so much time in fruitless discussion of novel doctrine that they would not carry out God’s plan of bringing people to a place of obedience and faith before Jesus.

Goal of the Warning Vs. 5-7

1 Timothy 1:5 CSB

5 Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

Here Paul gives Timothy the directives he was to deliver to the Ephesians. The goal of issuing this warning was to lead the false teachers to develop genuine love.

This love was to spring from a pure heart, a good conscience, and genuine faith.

In biblical thought the heart is the seat of the mind, the emotions, and the will. Any person who lacks a pure heart cannot radiate Christian love.

Conscience refers to an individual’s inner awareness of the moral quality of personal actions. The conscience serves as a guide to life.

In order to develop a good conscience, individuals must fill their minds with God’s message and render obedience to it.

Sincere faith is a trust in God that Paul believed Timothy Possessed. Some characterizes such faith as having simplicity of aim, which is always ready to listen to truth, and a constant desire to do right. Faith is sincere only when it is not mere talk but is genuine trust and confidence in God.

1 Timothy 1:6 CSB

6 Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.

The some here who had wandered away were the same as the false teachers in verse 3.

Wandered away comes from a verb that means to be wide of the mark or to shoot past the goal.

The false teachers had wandered away from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith and had turned to aimless talk which did not lead to the goal of godliness. They had missed the mark with regard to the faith.

The phrase fruitless discussion or idle talk or meaningless talk, this means empty, useless or fruitless. The talk leads nowhere. There is content in what the false teachers communicate, but it does not lead anyone to holy living.

1 Timothy 1:7 CSB

7 They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on.

By describing them as teachers of the law, Paul pictured the false teachers as aspiring the be like Jewish rabbis and spinning out sterile interpretation of Old Testament stories and regulations.

The false teachers weaned the minds of their listeners away from the simplicity of the gospel, and in doing this they missed both the truths of the Old Testament and the teaching of Christ.

Reason for the Warning Vs. 8-11

1 Timothy 1:8 CSB

8 But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately.

Paul’s reason for warning against the false teachers in Ephesus was that they had misunderstood the intent and use of God’s law.

In Speaking of the law, Paul was not merely referring to the Ten Commandments or to the law of Moses.

He was speaking of the principles of making legal demands, and he argued that legal demands are good if a person knows rightly how to make those demands.

The law itself is intrinsically noble and honorable, but its teachers must use it according to its spirit and intention.

If these teachers had used the law as a means of leading their hearers to Jesus, that would have been fine with Paul.

In saying that the law was not made for the righteous, Paul was describing believers as the righteous.

Committed believers do not need the law to propel them to holy living. They have pleasure in God’s law and have entered the sphere in which the promptings of the Holy Spirit spur them to obedience.

1 Timothy 1:9–10 CSB

9 We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral and males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching

Paul gives a list of people who willfully break the law and refuse to obey its authority, the outwardly disobedient who want only disregard God’s will in their lives, and the inward scoffers who irreverently trample on God’s name.

The word sound is a medical metaphor that contrasts healthy doctrine with the sickly, unhealthy teaching of the heretics.

Doctrine can refer either to proper beliefs - the content of doctrine - or to proper behavior - the results of right beliefs.

1 Timothy 1:11 CSB

11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.

Paul presented three facts about the gospel. First, the gospel concerns the glory of the blessed God, the content of the gospel is to set forth and proclaim the glory of God.

Second, this gospel comes from the blessed God, the term blessed pictures God as the source and fountain of all blessedness. Blessedness rests in and proceeds from God.

Third, this gospel has been entrusted to Paul. The malicious perversions of truth cited in verses 9-10 did not proceed from God of glory, and Paul wanted such heretical teaching to cease.

Paul’s chief concern was that the life-style and testimony of a Christian aid in the spread of the gospel concerning Jesus.

The false teachers in Ephesus has given their energies to many enticing replacements for the gospel. That trend had to stop.

No program, aim, or emphasis in our lives can be allow to hinder our full involvement in sharing the gospel of Jesus’ saving power.